Cutting through the walls

[dragon wench]

I have been browsing through the lyrics thread, and the more recent "Wailing Hard," thread. I also currently have ITunes on random while busy taking care of various household tasks. All of this has got me to thinking... one of these days I'm going to hurt myself...

For some reason, music, more than anything else, will cut through any of the walls I've erected. I can easily sit through a deeply emotional scene in a movie without shedding a tear. I can, in many circumstances, put up a cold mask if I'm churning within. But.. if I hear a particular piece of music I will be deeply moved, and it will have a significant impact on my mood and frame of mind. Of course, sometimes this is because I associate certain songs with particular people or events in my life. But, just as often, I'm deeply affected when there is no personal association at all.

So, I'm curious, is anybody else here profoundly affected by music like this, or is it another form of art, sensation etc. that moves you?

[Grimar]

i do! even metall moves me, but in a nice way i get so cought up in the music that i forget everything else.

[Fiberfar]

There is a couple of songs that moves me when I hear them as well. One of them is Johnny Cash's hurt. It remind me of someone I knew. There is also a couple of songs that just makes me close my eyes and just sit there. Mostly, those songs are metal songs.

[frogus23]

Excuse the not entirely related comment, but I find that my mood produces music...I am someone who sings to himself pretty much all the time, and I find many times a day, when reflecting on something in my life, that I will just forget about it, and start singing to myself...

Although I will not realise it when I started the song, I will get to a crucial lyric and realise that I have been singing a song about my own thought, predicament or mood, often in an embarassingly literal way...

As for music, yes, I think it is the most manipulative of arts, because it is momentary and mutational like feelings. A melody comes much closer to imitating the 'shape' of an emotion than for example a picture does.

I think it's mostly because music changes through time, so that if one's mental state coincides with any phrase in a piece of music it can get whisked onto the train, and begin to imitate the music and communicate with it. One's mind can only jump in and out of the mood of a painting, not follow them.

[giles337]

DBC Pierre got this one down to a "t" in his book, Vernon God Little (An excellent read if you are book hungry.) He coined the term "Fate Songs." Those songs that get associated with a moment, and can never be dislodged.

Not many songs have this effect on me, but there are a few, which I'm not saying, for embarassments sake

[Luis Antonio]

Some of my friends say I'm far too emotional. I mean, I cry when I see movies, damn, I've almost cryed when I finished BG for the first time to discover that Viccy was going to be slain!

Musics dont make me cry, but they touch me deep, bringing up memories.

[Robnark]

I'm with Luis. I'm a pitiless film snob, but even the most cack-handed romantic bilge makes me weep like a little girl - even stuff with julia roberts

music doesn't. I find it rather emotionally effecting in different ways, but it doesn't really produce the strength of reaction that other things can.

[Magrus]

I love music. Sometimes, its the only thing that keeps me from doing monstrously stupid things and keeps my emotions in control. I listen to aggressive music to help calm me down when angry, almost like I'm riding out my anger through the songs I listen to until I'm calm

My one close friend, who've I've spent the past week with, randomly sends me songs out of the blue. She somehow just up and sends me songs that perfectly describes what I'm thinking and feeling when I'm in some sort of emotional crisis when she is completely oblivious to how I am feeling. I love her for it.

Music can tear down the walls I put up for emotional barriers like nothing else. I know exactly what you mean. It triggers memories, and emotions and songs can be like a roller coaster ride through the past sometimes.

[Brynn]

Originally Posted by dragon wench

So, I'm curious, is anybody else here profoundly affected by music like this, or is it another form of art, sensation etc. that moves you?

Yes, I'm definitely like this. It happened more than once that a specific track moved my mood so strongly that it even chaged my view on different things... Therefore I have to be careful what kind of music I listen to and when. I LOVE metal, especially Iron Maiden - but when I feel depressed or lonely, I have to force myself not to listen to "2 am", because it intensifies the bad feeling, it's really depressive. Luckily, I rarely feel that way so it's usually safe to listen to Maiden But this is what I notcied.

It works the other way, too - when I'm happy and hear a song that's postivie and uplifiting, I can get to a kind of euphoria

Sometimes it's hard for me to put my emotions into words - I can much better describe them with a piece of music (or, strange enough, with a specific color) than with words...

[Fiberfar]

I almost forgot..... One of the songs that move me most is "Master of the wind" by ManowaR.

[Brynn]

Originally Posted by Fiberfar

I almost forgot..... One of the songs that move me most is "Master of the wind" by ManowaR.

I'm glad there's at least one man who understands what listening to that song feels like

*hastily opens winamp and browses the tracklist for "Master of the wind"*

[Cuchulain82]

Music is something that almost everyone responds to. The ancient Greeks thought that the musician was a conduit for music, and that the music came from a part of the musician that wasn't controlled by rationality. It was something... divine (for lack of a better word) that transcended what people thought, and got down to how they felt.

Music really helps my moods. In the morning, when I get on the train, if I put on my IPod and watch people start their day, my day is always better. When I'm lonely, I'll listen to a slow song. I lived in Spain for a while, and every once in a while when I feel like I can't take New York anymore, I put on spanish music and think about Spain, how Madrid smelled at night, how peaceful the sea looked in Barcelona...

I used to listen to a lot of heavier stuff (I listened to Metallica when it was still cool to do so), but never as heavy as manowar. However, one of my all time favorite bands is Rage Against the Machine- I can listen to them all day long.

[jopperm2]

Music sometimes affects me. Punk makes me angry or excited and blues makes me cry. Mostly in remembrance of my late father.